Our lone garden strawberry plant has six nearly pink strawberries we are hoping we will beat the birds to once they are ripe, but British strawberries have also just hit the shops. I urge you to make the most of the new season while you can.
We eat the perfect ones right from the punnet, but any blemished or slightly squashed ones – and there are almost always a few – get special treatment.
Some are roasted with lemon and pepper and eaten with yoghurt for breakfast, or with halva and honey for pudding: roasting strawberries is a great trick if you have a punnet that isn’t as tasty as you’d hoped; it intensifies their sweetness and perfume and creates a thick, deep-scarlet syrup that is insanely good.
Others we macerate, often with vanilla or cardamom, but this week it’s been fennel seeds and lemon. They are wonderful piled on to shortcake or next to a slice of cake.
The amount of sugar I have used in both recipes is a guide only – it is down to your taste and how sweet your strawberries are.
Strawberry shortcakes (pictured above)
These are my version of a cream tea. While I do love scones with clotted cream and jam, I find this combination of just-sweet shortcake, creme fraiche and fresh lemon with fennel-spiked strawberries a little fresher on a warm day.
Prep 30 min
Cook 30 min
Makes 10
For the shortcakes
320g plain flour
1 pinch sea salt
1 tsp baking powder
50g golden caster sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
125g unsalted butter, frozen
2 large free-range or organic eggs
125ml single cream
1 tsp vanilla bean paste or extract
For the filling
½ tsp fennel seeds
300g strawberries, hulled: large ones quartered, smaller ones halved
1-2 tbsp golden caster sugar
Juice and zest of 1 lemon; reserve some zest for sprinkling
200ml creme fraiche
Heat the oven to 240C (220C fan)/465F/gas 9. If you haven’t already, put your butter in the freezer – it will need about 30 mins to chill.For the shortcakes, mix the flour, salt, baking powder and sugar in a bowl. Grate in the butter and lightly bring together with your fingers until it resembles breadcrumbs.
Whisk one egg into the cream, add the vanilla bean paste and pour into the flour mixture bit by bit using a fork. Bring the mixture together to a dough, but don’t overmix.
Tip out the dough on to a lightly floured work surface, roll out to about 3cm thick, then, using a 6cm round cutter, stamp out 10 discs.
Line a large baking tray with greaseproof paper and arrange the shortcakes about 2-3cm apart, because they will spread slightly.
Separate the other egg whisk the white (keep the yolk for something else), brush the cake tops with the egg white and sprinkle with a little extra caster sugar. Put in the fridge for 30 minutes to chill.
In a small frying pan, lightly toast the fennel seeds for a minute, until lightly golden, then transfer to a bowl. Add the strawberries, caster sugar and lemon juice and zest, mix well and leave to marinate for 10-15 minutes.
Remove the shortcakes from the fridge and bake for 10-15 minutes, until golden brown, then let them cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack.
Halve each shortcake as you would a scone, then top with a generous dollop of creme fraiche and the marinated strawberries; add a little fresh lemon zest, if you like. Best eaten warm.
Roast strawberries with lemon and black pepper
Roast strawberries are one of my favourite things to cook: they fill the house with the sweetest summery smell. Be sure to scoop up all the deep red juices while the strawberries are still warm, otherwise it will set on to the tray.
Prep 5 min
Cook 20 min
Serves 4
For the strawberries
500g strawberries, hulled
2-3 tbsp golden caster sugar
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp extra- virgin olive oil
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
To serve
250g thick Greek or coconut yoghurt
A little runny honey (optional)
100g halva
1 pinch flaky sea salt
Heat the oven to 210C (190C fan)/400F/gas 6½. Halve the larger strawberries, but keep the smaller ones whole, and put in a large roasting dish.
Add the caster sugar, pepper, oil, lemon juice and zest, give it all a good toss and roast for 20 minutes. Gently move the strawberries around halfway through cooking to make sure they don’t catch.
Remove the tray from the oven and leave to cool slightly.
Spoon the yoghurt on to four plates, ripple through some honey, if you like, then top with the strawberries and their roasting juices. Crumble a little halva over each bowl, finish with a pinch of salt and serve.
